Research

We examine how a finite many-body system can function as an effective charger for a single-qubit quantum battery, using the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model as a paradigmatic setting. As our figure of merit, we consider the battery ergotropy while explicitly resolving the energetic flows across the composite system. In the absence of intra-charger interactions, we show that the generation of non-zero ergotropy is controlled by the competition between collective coupling and spectral mismatch. We further demonstrate that even passive positive-temperature charger states can generate finite battery ergotropy, provided the charger is sufficiently large and sufficiently hot. Intra-charger interactions restructure the charger spectrum and qualitatively modify the available energetic pathways. While they can enhance the amount of energy accessible for charging, they can simultaneously divert energy into internal many-body and battery-charger interaction channels, producing an energetic impedance to direct charger-to-battery transfer. Consequently, battery ergotropy alone is insufficient to characterize an effective many-body charger: the useful work generated and its energetic provenance must be assessed together. 

The ability to locally control and measure subsets of ancilla qubits in an efficient and crosstalk-free manner is a key ingredient in quantum error correction (QEC). Dual-species neutral atom arrays offer an ideal implementation of these capabilities, enabling independent state preparation, manipulation, and detection on each species. In this work, we realize such a dual-species Rydberg array of Na and Cs atoms trapped in co-localized 2D optical tweezer arrays, using Na as an ancilla to measure stabilizers of surrounding Cs data qubits. We identify the finite interspecies Rydberg-Rydberg interaction strength as a practical obstacle to high-fidelity multi-body entanglement and show that, by tuning the Rabi frequency and the detuning of the Rydberg driving field, the resulting geometric phase error can be compensated. This yields a protocol for simultaneous, non-destructive, in situ stabilizer readout of multiple data qubits via global pulses alone. Using this protocol, we demonstrate non-destructive measurement of Pauli-Z stabilizers on four-qubit Cs plaquettes via a single global Rydberg pulse sequence. Our results demonstrate dual-species tweezer arrays as a promising route towards scalable QEC and open the door to new quantum control protocols leveraging both interspecies and intraspecies interactions. 

We systematically investigate whether classical hydrodynamic field theories can predict the long-time dynamics of many-particle quantum systems. We study both numerically and analytically the time evolution of a chain of spins (or qubits) subjected to stroboscopic dynamics. The time evolution is implemented by a sequence of local and nearest-neighbor gates that conserve the total magnetization. The long-time dynamics of such a system is believed to be describable by a hydrodynamic field theory, which, importantly, includes the effect of noise. Based on a field theoretical analysis and symmetry arguments, we map each operator in the spin model to the corresponding fields in hydrodynamics. This allows us to predict which expectation values decay exponentially and which decay with a hydrodynamic long-time tail. We illustrate these findings by studying the time evolution of all 255 Hermitian operators that can be defined on four neighboring sites. All operators not protected by hydrodynamics decay exponentially, while the others show a slow hydrodynamic decay. While most hydrodynamic power laws seem to follow the analytical predictions, we also discuss cases where there is an apparent discrepancy between analytics and the finite-size numerical data.

Quantum computing and non-equilibrium dynamics are two very rapidly developing and entangled fields. With the constant application of gates and measurements, quantum computers are always out of equilibrium. Furthermore, the current noisy quantum chips are prone to errors and dissipation, and are effectively described as an open system. At the same time, the simulation of the long-time dynamics of quantum systems is one of the most promising applications of a quantum computer. This thesis spans a range of topics, from qubit design to quantum algorithms. The key feature of our proposed qubit is imprinted by non-equilibrium dynamics. Namely, we address how to enhance the basic building block of a Majorana-based quantum computer by periodic driving. The so-called Floquet Majorana box qubits can host not only Majorana zero modes with quasi-energy zero but also Floquet Majoranas with an energy corresponding to half of is the driving frequency. This allows us to encode three topological logical qubits in one box. However, a standard adiabatic state preparation protocol fails, and we argue that this instability is a generic and fundamental feature of a Floquet superconductor. Instead, we show that it can be successfully operated using a frequency-sweep protocol, even in the presence of interactions. On the topic of quantum algorithms, we propose a scalable and robust protocol that prepares low-energy states of arbitrary gapped Hamiltonians, without prior knowledge about the target state. By using a fraction of the qubits to mimic a low-entropy bath, the protocol effectively cools the system to its low-energy state. The cyclic operation of the protocol is a key advantage since it leads to a robust "coolability" in the presence of noise. We investigate the performance of the protocol for systems with trivial and topological excitations. Because topological excitations are notoriously difficult to remove, the coolability can help to detect topological order. Finally, we discuss how this cooling protocol can be implemented on a gate-based quantum computer. While we experimentally tested the protocol on only very few qubits, the promising results suggest that the cooling protocol will be valuable for the preparation of more complex many-body states on future quantum computers. 

We propose a simple, robust protocol to prepare a low-energy state of an arbitrary Hamiltonian on a quantum computer or programmable quantum simulator. The protocol is inspired by the adiabatic demagnetization technique, used to cool solid-state systems to extremely low temperatures. A fraction of the qubits (or spins) is used to model a spin bath that is coupled to the system. By an adiabatic ramp down of a simulated Zeeman field acting on the bath spins, energy and entropy are extracted from the system. The bath spins are then measured and reset to the polarized state, and the process is repeated until convergence to a low-energy steady state is achieved. We demonstrate the protocol via application to the quantum Ising model. We study the protocol's performance in the presence of noise and show how the information from the measurement of the bath spins can be used to monitor the cooling process. The performance of the algorithm depends on the nature of the excitations of the system; systems with non-local (topological) excitations are more difficult to cool than those with local excitations. We explore the possible mitigation of this problem by trapping topological excitations.  arXiv:2210.17256

In one-dimensional topological superconductors driven periodically with the frequency ω, two types of topological edge modes may appear, the well-known Majorana zero mode and a Floquet Majorana mode located at the energy ω/2. We investigate two Josephson-coupled topological quantum wires in the presence of Coulomb interactions, forming a so-called Majorana box qubit. An oscillating gate voltage can induce Floquet Majorana modes in both wires. This allows encoding 3 qubits in a sector with fixed electron parity. If such a system is prepared by increasing the amplitude of oscillations adiabatically, it is inherently unstable as interactions resonantly create quasi particles. This can be avoided by using instead a protocol where the oscillation frequency is increased slowly. In this case, one can find a parameter regime where the system remains stable. arXiv:2110.05281 

We study the competing charge-density-wave and superconducting order in the attractive Hubbard model under a voltage bias, using steady-state nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory. We show that the charge-density wave is suppressed in a current-carrying nonequilibrium steady state. This effect is beyond a simple Joule-heating mechanism and a “supercooled” metallic state is stabilized at a nonequilibrium temperature lower than the equilibrium superconducting Tc . On the other hand, a current-carrying superconducting state is dissipationless and thus not subject to the same nonthermal suppression, and can therefore nucleate out of the supercooled metal, e.g., in a resistive switching experiment. The fact that an electric current can change the relative stability of different phases compared to thermal equilibrium, even when a system appears locally thermal due to electron-electron scattering, provides a general perspective to control intertwined orders out of equlibrium. arXiv:1804.09608